Obama has up to $1 million with JPMorgan Chase

GMT
21:31 2012
Tuesday ,15
May

Washington - AFP

US President Barack Obama has up to $1 million in a JPMorgan Chase checking account, the White House said Tuesday as a controversy deepened over the bank\'s $2 billion dollar losses.
Public figures in the United States are required by law to publish their assets and investments to avoid conflicts of interest, and the White House releases disclosures for Obama and Vice President Joe Biden each year.
As well as the between $500,000 and $1 million in the JPMorgan Chase Private Client Asset Management checking account, Obama also has millions of dollars in a variety of other accounts and funds, bonds and treasuries.
The largest holding, according to the disclosures, is between one and five million dollars in US Treasury notes.
Most of Obama\'s wealth comes from book royalties, including from his best selling autobiography \"Dreams From My Father.\"
Obama said during a television interview with ABC\'s \"The View\" broadcast Tuesday that the $2 billion in derivatives losses suffered by JPMorgan proved the need for tighter banking regulation.
He also said that JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon was \"one of the smartest bankers we got and they still lost money.\"
\"They still lost $2 billion dollars and counting precisely because they were making bets in these derivative markets. This is why we passed Wall Street reform.\"
The US Justice Department has opened an FBI probe into JPMorgan Chase\'s more than $2 billion trading loss, a person familiar with the matter told AFP Tuesday.
News of the investigation came as Dimon, JPMorgan\'s embattled chief executive, faced criticism at the company\'s annual shareholders meeting in Tampa, Florida, over the shock loss.